CERTAIN ANTIQUITIES OF THE FLORIDA WEST-COAST. 

 By Clarence B. Moore. 



During the past eight years we have made certain investigations of aboriginal 

 remains in the southern United States with the aid of a large flat-bottomed steamer 

 containing a corps of assistants and numbers of trained men to dig. The results 

 of these investigations have been embodied in reports appearing in the Journal 1 of 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, where. the collections made by 

 us during our work are deposited. 



Several years ago we explored the mounds bordering the Florida east-coast, 

 following the footsteps of Mr. Andrew E. Douglass, of the Museum of Natural His- 

 tory, New York, finding, as he did, but little of comparative interest in the mounds 

 of that section. 2 



A certain amount of investigation of the aboriginal remains of the west coast 

 of Florida has been made by Mr. S. T. Walker, the results appearing in the reports 

 of the Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C, for the years 1879 and 1883. 



The data obtained by Mr. Walker, while of interest, were not of a nature to 

 encourage farther archaeological work on the west coast, and had it not been for 

 the remarkable discoveries made in the muck on the upper end of the island 

 of Marco, almost the northernmost key 3 of the Ten Thousand Islands, which 

 border the Florida west-coast along the counties of Lee and Monroe, it is not likely 

 a visit would have been made by us to the Florida west-coast. But when the mag- 

 nificent collection, mainly of objects of wood, was shown us by Mr. Frank Hamil- 

 ton Gushing, and we had studied his brilliant preliminary report, 4 we resolved to 

 visit the west coast of Florida, and did so during about three and one-half months 

 of the winter of 1900, to make a reconnoissance, as it were, to determine whether 

 or not a series of seasons could profitably be spent by us in making a thorough 

 examination of what might prove to be so rich a field. 



1 "Certain Sand Mounds of the St. Johns River, Florida." Parts I and II, Journ. A. N. S. P., 

 Vol. X, 1894. 



"Certain Sand Mounds of Duval County, Florida. Two Mounds on Murphy Island, Florida. 

 ■ Certain Sand Mounds of the Ocklawaha River, Florida." Journ. A. N S. P., Vol. X, 1895. 



" Certain Aboriginal Mounds of the Georgia Coast." Journ. A. X. S. P., Vol. XI, 1897. 

 "Certain Aboriginal Mounds of the Coast of South Carolina. Certain Aboriginal Mounds of 

 the Savannah River. Certain Aboriginal Mounds of the Altamaha River." Journ. A. N. S. P., Vol. 

 XI, 1898. 



"Certain Aboriginal Remains of the Alabama River." Journ. A. X. S. P., Vol. XI, 1899. 



2 " Additional Mounds of Duval and Clay Counties, Florida. Mound Investigation on the 

 East coast of Florida. Certain Florida Coast Mounds North of the St. Johns River." [Privately 

 printed.] 



3 An island, from the Spanish cayo. 



i "Exploration of Ancient Key-dweller Remains on the Gulf Coast of Florida." Proceedings 

 of the American Philosophical Society, Vol. XXV, No. 153. 



